FAA issues 737 MAX emergency AD

The FAA has issued a new airworthiness directive (AD) on the Boeing 737 MAX after Lion Air flight JT610 crash investigators found the aircraft's angle of attack (AOA) sensors are capable of generating erroneous inputs, potentially making the aircraft hard for pilots to control.

"We also plan to conduct a flight reconstruction to see the impact of the AOA sensor damage in the engineering simulator at the Boeing facility in Seattle". Aviation regulators such as the FAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency often follow such actions by mandating that carriers follow the bulletins - something the FAA says it will do in this case.

Lion Air's first two attempts to address the airspeed indicator problem didn't work, and for the Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane's second-to-last flight on October 28, the angle of attack sensors were replaced, Tjahjono said.

Pilots are trained to disengage the angle-of-attack sensors from the plane's computers when they get false readings.

The FAA said the "erroneous inputs can potentially make the horizontal stabilisers repeatedly pitch the nose of the airplane downward, making the aircraft hard to control".

"Both the documents (FAA and Boeing) address erroneous high angle of attack sensor input and corrective action for the same as it has potential for repeated nose-down trim commands of the horizontal stabiliser", said a senior Directorate General of Civil Aviation official, who asked not to be named.

Indonesian investigators have recovered the plane's flight data recorder, which showed that the plane's airspeed indicator malfunctioned on its last four flights.

KNKT said that there was a problem with the sensor on the last flight taken by the doomed plane, from the island of Bali to Jakarta, even though one sensor had been replaced in Bali.

The Boeing 737 Max has three such blade-shaped sensors.

That sensor, known as the "angle of attack" sensor, keeps track of the angle of the aircraft nose to help prevent the plane from stalling and diving. The US manufacturer has delivered 219 737 MAX jets to customers globally, according to Boeing's website, and it has 4,564 orders for jets that have yet to be delivered.

The glitch had been repeatedly serviced and Lion Air's technical team declared the plane to be airworthy.

A Lion Air plane carrying 145 passengers was forced to abort its take-off from Indonesia's Bengkulu city on Wednesday night (Nov 7), after its left wing crashed into a pole.

Divers have recovered one of the two "black boxes" - the flight data recorder - but are still searching for the cockpit voice recorder, in the hope it will shed more light on the cause of the disaster. The Boeing bulletin says it is possible that the system will continue to put the aircraft nose down, right up to the limit, unless it is deactivated. Another clue: the so-called angle-of-attack sensor had failed on an earlier flight and had been replaced the previous day.

RELATED NEWS

People Injured, Deputy Shot At Bar In Thousand Oaks
Ventura County Fire Department said there was an "ongoing active shooter incident" reported at Borderline bar and grill. Witnesses describing the moment the gunman opened fire said the man first shot the guard at the door with a handgun. 11/08/2018

Out of many, several firsts elected across US in midterms
Texas is sending its first ever Hispanic women to congress, as Veronica Escobar snapped up Beto O'Rouke's old seat and state Sen. Beyond the Bay State, voters in other states picked Native American and immigrant women as their representatives. 11/08/2018

'Diablo Immortal' Game Coming To Android, Pre-Register Now
Diablo is a well-loved hack and slash game series in which players fight through demons to defeat Diablo , the Lord of Terror. The new " Diablo Immortal " mobile offering fell short of some fan expectations for the popular desktop games. 11/08/2018

Rivers, Gordon leads Chargers past Seahawks 25-17
Of the Chargers' 50 offensive plays during the game, 16 of them - including all three touchdowns - chewed up more than 10 yards. While Seattle's secondary is touted and hungry, Seattle's ability to rush the passer will prove the deciding factor. 11/07/2018

10-year-old girl accused of killing baby in Wisconsin day care
Authorities said Treu sped off after the collision, but surrendered hours later. "She has to be treated as an adult", Newell said. According to the charges, deputies followed the fluid trail to a home in Chippewa Falls, which belonged to Treu and another man. 11/07/2018

Floyd Mayweather to face kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in Japan
Floyd Mayweather is planning on fighting Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa on December 31 in Saitama, north of Tokyo. If I see an opportunity to make $300 million in 36 minutes why not, ' he said after that fight in Las Vegas. 11/06/2018

Jack Ma Says the Trade War Is the ‘Most Stupid Thing’
Ma, who's planning on retiring next year, has also said the global business community is opposed to the trade war. The trade pact came days after Kenya reversed a move to ban tilapia fish exports from China . 11/06/2018